Thursday, May 31, 2012

After so many great movie banners and character movie posters, how did Warner Bros. marketing team screw up The Dark Knight Rises’ first traditional one sheet movie poster this badly? It just looks like they took two different posters and merged them together. Where’s the artistry in this poster? I think what throws off this image the most is the two different perspectives. Batman is looking straight at you while the background makes gives off the appearance you’re looking up. Instead of being a cool “special effect,” it’s kinda giving me a headache. Hopefully the movie doesn’t induce vertigo as well.

This weekend Jon Malmstedt of Rampage Toys is participating in the monthly "Pandemonium" custom show at the One Up Sofubi Shop in Akihabara, Tokyo. The theme for this show is “land animals,” and Jon definitely did not disappoint with four all new Wild Cat Ugly Unicorns! Three of Jon’s four customs can be seen above and include a Leopard, Lion and Tiger Ugly Unicorn. These turned out fantastic, don’t you think!?!

Earlier this week Huck Gee released his companion piece to last month’s Copter Boy Munny custom, and it’s entitled, appropriately enough, Copter Girl! Now don’t let Copter Girl’s cute demeanor fool you. Copter Boy’s equally talented, tough as nails, troublemaking younger sister was often the ringleader in their mischievous endeavors. Not to be content with simply dodging chores, she would perch herself on a nearby window ledge, fresh apple in hand, to gloat her nimble charms and favored position over her toiling brother.

Each Copter Girl custom Munny comes signed and numbered by the artist, includes all of the accessories show here, and will be packaged in a padded, hand assembled and laser etched wooden box. 10 Copter Girls were created in all, with each figure retailing for $875. To reserve one of these hand painted, hand crafted vinyl figures email sales@huckgee.com immediately, because once these Copter Girls fly out of Huck’s studios they’ll never been seen again!

Later today, May 31st, [rich] of UME Toys will be releasing his latest resin creation, the dapper Martin Longbottom! Not only that, but he’ll be dropping five different colorways of this cute 5” figure, so there will definitely be something for everyone when Martin drops at 8pm London time. Each figure includes Martin’s trademark hat and include (depending on the colorway) different features like mouths, mustaches, bellybuttons and more! Be sure to hit up the UME Toys online store to pick one up today.

For today’s drop, there are five colorways in all: The unpainted DIY Martin Rawbottom (£40), the green OG Martin Longbottom (£55), the pink Martin Pinkbottom (£55), the blue Martin Bluebottom (£55) and The Blot’s personal favorite the flocked Martin Fuzzybottom (£70). Will all these fun options, I don’t know how anyone can pick just one!

While The Blot has never played the hit video game Plants vs. Zombies, I do know a ton of people who have it downloaded on their mobile devices. All those downloads can’t be wrong, right!?! Plants vs. Zombies has won over 30 Game of the Year Awards, and now this addicting video game can join your toy shelf with a new line of adorable Plans vs. Zombies Pop! vinyl figures by Funko.

“Saul Goodman” by Chris DeLorenzo is the fifth screen print in the Breaking Bad Alternate Reality Game Series released in honor of the hit AMC television show Breaking Bad’s fifth and final season. Bob Odenkirk steals ever scene he's in as Walter White’s shady attorney Saul Goodman, causing Saul to quickly become a Breaking Bad fan favorite. What could have easily been a throwaway guest starring role quickly evolved into an multifaceted and intriguing character. Without a doubt one of the smartest things Breaking Bad did was making Odenkirk’s Saul Goodman a permanent cast member in Season 3.

Chris DeLorenzo’s limited edition Breaking Bad screen print “Saul Goodman” measures 18”x24”, has a run size of 300 pieces (only 200 available for purchase) and comes hand signed and numbered by the artist. The print will retail for $50 each and can be purchased here.

To celebrate and honor the fifth and final season of Breaking Bad, 16 of the top artists and graphic designers have been commissioned to create screenprints depicting some of the series' most memorable scenes, characters and shocking moments for Gallery1988 and its Breaking Bad ARG, Breaking Gifs. These screenprints are hand-pulled, each its own individual work of art, in an edition of just 300, with only 200 available to the public through this project. Once the edition is sold out, they will never be printed again.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Last week Entertainment Weekly gave the world its first look as Danai Gurira as Michonne, the sword wielding bad ass of The Walking Dead! The Blot’s trying super hard not to read any spoilers about The Walking Dead’s third season on AMC, but anyone who’s read the first 50 or so issues of The Walking Dead comic book series know the season’s general storyline. Needless to say, things will not be going smoothly for Michonne in Season 3. Then again, does anything really ever go smoothly for Rick’s little band of survivors? So now that you’ve seen Gurira’s live action Michonne, what do you think?

The Walking Dead Season 3 is scheduled to air on AMC Sunday nights beginning October 2012.

Did you know McFarlane Toys has never produced a Batman toy before? Well, I guess technically it still hasn’t! But McFarlane Toys is teaming up with Warner Bros. and DC Comics to release what might be the coolest The Dark Knight Rises toy of the summer. McFarlane Toys is releasing a “Gotham Rogues” Hines Ward figure, which recreates the former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver and future NFL Hall of Famer’s role in the film. The Gotham Rogues are Gotham City’s professional football franchise, and you probably recognize this pose from The Dark Knight Rises’ first trailer where as Ward runs down the field scoring a touchdown, Bane sets off a bomb collapsing the rest of the field around him.

The Gotham Rogues Hines Ward figure is clad in the Rogues’ black and yellow uniform created specifically by Under Armour for The Dark Knight Rises, and even features the actual tattoo Ward has on his right arm. Each 6” figure includes an enhanced base that features The Dark Knight Rises logo and comes packaged in a movie themed full color window box. This may also be the last action figure of the now retired 2 time Super Bowl champion and Dancing with the Stars champion, making this The Dark Knight Rises toy even more collectible!

With G.I. Joe: Retaliation postponed until 2013 and The Avengers already seen by the entire world, it is now all Batman all the time for the rest of the summer (sorry Spidey). Warner Bros. clearly knows it needs a huge build up if The Dark Knight Rises is going to have any chance at being the summer movie of 2012, and has decided to bombard us with theatrical movie banners. Some are actually pretty cool, while others are the definition of “meh.” Why is it so difficult to make Anne Hathaway’s Catwoman look cool?

There actually appears to be at least three different sets of The Dark Knight Rises movie banners here, with each set featuring Batman, Bane and Catwoman predominately. With that being said, none of the sets were impressive enough to warrant their own blog post. So The Blot figured I’d just cram this one with nine one sheets. Which one is your favorite?

For the past few years Giant Japanese Monster, Bad! (Facebook, Flickr) has been producing some awesome bootleg, kitbashed Masters of the Universe action figures. The Blot’s never been able to score one of these “Rejects of Eternia” figures, but I spent many a night drooling over his He-Man and Merman bootlegs. Thankfully, it looks like I will finally be able to get my hands on one with the release of Off! Off is comprised of a Buzz-Off body and wings with a Skeletor head and a mystery left arm. Each hand cast resin figure features three points of articulation (both arms and wings), and comes in a variety of colors and tints.

Admit it, these look awesome right?!?! While the figures look top notch, what I really love about GJM,B!’s figures are the colorways he comes up with. From amazing clear glitter figures to my personal favorite, this “Fire” yellow/orange/black airbrushed color scheme. Right now Giant Japanese Monster, Bad! has seven different colorways of Off available for purchase at his online store. The unpainted Silver and Bronze Off figures retail for $40, while the airbrushed Fire and Ice colorways and Glow in the Dark figures retail for $50 each.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Freak Store, Venezuela’s preeminent designer vinyl toy store, has teamed up with artist Gary Ham to produce its very first vinyl figure, Fonzo! Fonzo, the store’s official mascot, is based on Freak Store’s pet French bulldog and looks like a really fun designer toy. The Blot loves Gary Ham’s work, and Fonzo definitely reflects his unique style. Admit it, these 6” vinyl figures would look killer next to the Hermees in your collection! You do have a Hermees right?

The Standard Edition Fonzo seen here has a limited edition run size of 200 pieces and will be available for purchased next week in a store near you for $60. Rumor has it the figure has a mystery chase colorway that will be randomly inserted in boxes. So good luck hunting down a rare chase Fonzo!

Meet Sharkgut Wayne Gacy, Killer Bootlegs’ newest bootleg resin figure! Released last Friday, Sharkgut has been kitbashed together from old school Masters of the Universe and Star Wars figures. Can you identify all of the different pieces!?! Sharkgut was released as part of Killer Bootlegs’ ongoing “Cosmic Creeps” line of resin figures in a variety of different colors, including clear tints and marbled resin. If like The Blot you love these resin mash-ups Killer Bootlegs has been producing, head over to the Killer Bootleg online store and pick up a Sharkgut today for just $15! Last I heard, only five still remain, so act fast.

In honor of Dark Hall Mansion’s highly anticipated The BeatlesYellow Submarine print set by Tom Whalen dropping later today, DHM has unveiled the third colorway of this beautiful five screen print set. The ultra rare “Elite ‘68” Folio features metallic inks and comes signed and numbered by Whalen (the only version to come signed). Limited to just 68 sets, this is by far the rarest of the three colorways and also its most expensive. The Elite Folio set will retail for a whopping $625! This version is definitely for all of the diehard Beatles collectors out there.

Based on Yellow Submarine, the 1968 animated Beatles film, this officially licensed limited edition print Folio includes five 18”x24” Tom Whalen screen prints. Each print comes individually numbered, with the set housed within its own Folio protective case, also designed by Whalen, which bears the film’s classic Yellow Submarine and original 1968 film release date on its cover. This is the first time The Beatles have formally allowed a contemporary artist to reinterpret their classic film’s imagery within an art print format.

Three different versions of Tom Whalen’s Yellow Submarine Folio have been produced: a Standard Edition Folio ($300) with a limited edition run size of 797 sets; a Pink Variant ($450) with a limited edition run size of 135 sets; and the “Elite ’68” Metallic Edition Signed Folio ($625) that has a limited edition run size of 68 sets and includes signed versions of each print.

These officially licensed The Beatles Yellow Submarine Folios will go on sale exclusively through Dark Hall Mansion’s online store today, Tuesday, May 29th, at 9:30am PST. This release has been scheduled to coincide with the release of Yellow Submarine on Bluray.

Friday, May 25, 2012

“Wayfarer 515” by Justin Santora is the fourth screen print in the Breaking Bad Alternate Reality Game Series released in honor of the hit AMC television show Breaking Bad’s fifth and final season. I would love to try and explain this print’s significance, but honestly it’s kind of a long story. Needless to say, it’s definitely an important moment in the show’s history and is connected to many Breaking Bad storylines. It’s amazing how serene Santora has made such a terrible event look.

Justin Santora’s limited edition Breaking Bad screen print “Wayfarer 515” measures 18”x24”, has a run size of 300 pieces (only 200 available for purchase) and comes hand signed and numbered by the artist. The print will retail for $50 each and can be purchased here.

To celebrate and honor the fifth and final season of Breaking Bad, 16 of the top artists and graphic designers have been commissioned to create screenprints depicting some of the series' most memorable scenes, characters and shocking moments for Gallery1988 and its Breaking Bad ARG, Breaking Gifs. These screenprints are hand-pulled, each its own individual work of art, in an edition of just 300, with only 200 available to the public through this project. Once the edition is sold out, they will never be printed again.

It’s rare that The Blot gets totally taken by surprise with a release these days, but I honestly did not expect a line of FunkoPop! Rock vinyl figures featuring Sid Vicious, Johnny Rotten and Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols! Funko continues to impress me with its all encompassing superstars of music toy line. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Sex Pistols toys before, much less Sex Pistols toys in a line with the likes of Elvis, 2Pac and The Beatles. This is truly an all-star line up of music greats spanning all genres and time periods!

The Sex Pistols Pop! Rocks vinyl figures feature one point of articulation, stand 3.75” tall and come packaged in a full color displayable window box. While these figures are not expected to hit store shelves until June 28, 2012, you can pre-order them now from Entertainment Earth for $9.99 each here.

The Blot got some shocking news yesterday, Jesse Narens (aka Ghost&Flower) will be retiring his Stegoforest resin figure this Friday, May 25th! That means there is less than 48 hours to get your hands on this really creative and fun figure. If you still want to pick one up, Jesse has a very special Stegoforest set available at Stegoforest.com (where some awesome Stegoforest t-shirts are also available). Each 7.5” long and 4” tall Stegoforest resin figure features an articulated head and front left foot, and includes a 2.5” long mini Battle Damaged Acorn Warrior in the color of your choice.

But fear not Stegoforest fans, the character will not be forgotten. Jesse already has plans to bring the character back as a mini fighting stance vinyl figure! He’ll be kicking off a Kickstarter campaign soon to help raise the funds to create this and a mini fighting stance Mossy Mammoth vinyl figure. More info on that exciting release will definitely coming your way soon!

Thursday, May 24, 2012

The Blot was really hoping for more from The Amazing Spider-Man’s first set of character movie posters. These generic headshots are ok, I guess, but they could have been so much more. While I still think ASM will be good, I fear it’s a little too over exposed. After all the trailers and previews, I get the impression I’ve already seen pretty much the entire movie. Is there really anything else to be gained by seeing it in theaters?

The Amazing Spider-Man international character movie poster set includes Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man/Peter Parker, Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy and Rhys Ifans as Dr. Curt Connors (aka The Lizard). The one thing that could have really made this set pop is if they had used an image of Ifans as the Lizard, but maybe that’s where they’re drawing the arbitrary line of what is and what is not ok to show. That’s kind of weird though, since the Lizard is now visible in the latest round of trailers for the film.

Is there any toy company releasing as cool of licensed figures as Funko is with its Pop! line? Their newest Pop! Movies vinyl figure is Alan and Carlos from The Hangover and it is freaking awesome! Now everyone can own a cute, chunky version of comedian Zach Galifianakis in all his bearded glory. Now The Blot just needs to know when The Hangover 3 is hitting theaters.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

The eighth installment in the "Collaborate & Dream" t-shirt series from Oven Fresh Dreams went up for sale last weekend and The Blot’s buddy (and OFD founder) Carlos J. EasyBake knocked one out of the park again! “The Shinigami Baker” was designed by Miguel Abreu, a talented graphic designer will a real knack for detail. As Carlos explained on his website, “comics have always been my gateway to live with superheroes. When I passed the idea of creating a comic cover shirt to Miguel he flipped. We both geeked out and got down to business. After a few weeks of comic research, we came up with The Shinigami Baker!”

As a huge comic book fan The Blot is really digging the newest Collaborate & Dream design. There’s something about this image that gives off that R. Crumb "Keep on Truckin" vibe that I really love. The Oven Fresh Dreams x Miguel Abreu Collaborate & Dream t-shirt “The Shinigami Baker” is currently available for purchase via the OFD online store for $24.99.

For some reason The Dark Knight Rises dropped not one but two sets of character movie posters yesterday (see the “RISE” set here). The Blot’s got no idea why they wouldn’t space them out a little better, but I’m just glad they’re finally releasing some one sheet movie posters. Sadly this “The Legend Ends” set is nowhere near as good as first set of character movie posters. I do like Christian Bale’s Batman poster, but the Bane (Tom Hardy) and Catowman (Anne Hathaway) look too much like still photos taken directly from the movie. Where’s the creativity!?!

Now that The Avengers has come and gone, it feels like the summer is going to be all Batman all the time! Sorry Amazing Spider-Man, but that’s the pecking order…you shouldn’t have shown us the entire movie in your trailers. The first set of The Dark Knight Rises character movie posters finally hit the internet, and they look awesome! Heck, they even make Anne Hathaway's Catwoman look cool, which was no easy task.

Each character movie poster features one of the film’s main three characters (Christian Bale as Batman, Tom Hardy as Bane and Hathaway as Catwoman), the word “RISE” at the top, and the ominous phrase “The Legend Ends” at the bottom. This just fuels the speculation that Batman will finally meet his demise at the end of The Dark Knight Rises. The Blot doesn’t buy it though!

Just like they were when you were a kid, only BIGGER! Yesterday, Gentle Giant announced the newest figure in its popular line of 12 inch vintage Star Wars action figure reproductions, and it’s finally Master Yoda’s turn! Digitally scanned from mint Kenner originals and reproduced to a substantial 6" tall, this Jumbo Vintage Kenner Star Wars Yoda action figure by Gentle Giant is an exact replica of the classic ‘80s toy.

Injection molded and made of durable plastics, this jumbo figure includes a faithfully reproduced orange snake accessory, is fully articulated and comes packaged on a 1980 style Empire Strikes Back inspired blister card with a plastic outer clam shell to help protect and display this awesome action figure.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Here is the official flyer (and our first look at four all new figures) for Task One’s upcoming solo art exhibit at Plastic Chapel in Denver entitled “As Seen On TV”, which will feature custom 8” Munny versions of characters from what Task considers to be some of the best shows on or recently on TV. Last week The Blot was excited to share with you the first two figures from this show Sons of Anarchy’s Clay Marrow and Breaking Bad’s Walter White (seen here). Well thanks to Task, I now have four more figures to share with you!

In the show’s official flyer you can see Task’s Dexter Munny from the popular Showtime show Dexter. Then there’s Omar Little from HBO’s The Wire, Larry David from HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Frank Reynolds (Danny DeVito) from FX’ It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. All of these shows are instant classics and each figure looks spot on don’t you think? Task really knocked this show theme out of the park.

Task One’s solo custom show “As Seen On TV” takes place at Plastic Chapel on Saturday, June 9th, in Denver Colorado.

Funko recently announced that its next Pop! Television vinyl figure would be Doctor Sheldon Cooper, the star of the hit CBS television show The Big Bang Theory! The Blot’s a huge BBT fan, and Funko has done a great job with its licensed toys for this show. The Sheldon bobble heads have been a huge it with fans of the show and Funko collectors, so you know this Pop! vinyl figure is going to be extremely popular as well. While Sheldon is rocking his trademark Green Lantern t-shirt for this initial release, The Blot’s got a feeling we’ll be seeing a San Diego Comic-Con Exclusive Sheldon Pop! vinyl figure sporting a Batman t-shirt this summer.

So I have a confession…I haven’t watched Futurama in a very, very long time. Probably close to ten years. So I have to ask, what’s the deal with this new 6” Wooden Bender? Is this from an actual episode or is Kidrobot just trying something different? Complete with removable red woodpecker and “technology-free” stumpy head and body, Wooden Bender is 6 inches tall and designed with the Kidrobot aesthetic twist, making this primitive vinyl ‘bot feisty and termite-free.

The whole Calvin & Hobbes mash-up may be played out, but The Blot’s still a sucker for a good one. So when I saw Threadless released this beautiful Calvin & Hobbes x The Lord of the Rings t-shirt design yesterday I got giddy! What’s better than Bill Watterson inspired versions of Frodo and Gandalf frolicking through the woods playing make believe!?!

The Calvin & Hobbes x The Lord of the Rings t-shirt “Halfling and Wizard” comes printed on a white t-shirt and is currently available for purchase at Threadless.com for $19.50. The shirt comes in both guys and girls styles, sizes S-2XL.

Monday, May 21, 2012

All last week The Blot was fervently following kaNO’s Facebook page as he was unveiling a series of four 8”x8” acrylic and wheatpaste paintings of the Avengers! Inspired by Marvel's hit summer blockbuster The Avengers, each painting features one member of the team: Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and the Hulk. What’s really great about these pieces is how kaNO painted each hero on top of actual comic book pages featuring that specific character. These turned out fantastic, and The Blot would absolutely kill to get my hands on this set of paintings (or even just the Captain America piece).

Because of the amazing response kaNO has received to this series of paintings, he has decided to release "The Avengers" as one killer 20”x20” giclee on archival paper. The Avengers print by kaNO will have a limited edition run size of 20 pieces and can be purchased exclusive from the kaNO Kid online store sometime soon for $45 each.